Paddy cultivation declined by 9% in last seven years (NT)

Published on: September 26, 2013 - 00:54 BY ABDUL WAHAB KHAN | NT PANAJI: Paddy cultivation in Goa has declined by 9.5 per cent in the last seven years, which may not pose an immediate threat to food security but its long-term impact could be disastrous for the state. Agriculture director P Tufani said the long-term effect of the declining paddy cultivation could be disastrous for the state. Rough estimates of the directorate of agriculture indicate that there has been decrease in land cultivated for paddy crop. The arable land has declined to the extent of 4900 hectares in the last seven years from 2005-06 to 2011-12, and on an average annual production per tonne has come down to 37900. Paddy cultivation has fallen by 9.5 per cent for the period 2005-06 to 20011-12 and production has declined by 17.1 per cent. Today’s youngsters are shying away from farming and there has been rise in khazan land, which could be perilous for food scarcity in near future, Tufani said. He said the state has never conducted a comprehensive survey on cultivable and fallow lands, so it has been proving difficult to come to definite statistical figures. Nevertheless the agriculture department every year conducts rough estimates of area cultivated and average yields of major crops. Agriculture sector stands third after tourism and mining in importance for Goan economy, and provides livelihood to some 50,000 people of the total population. Officials in the agricultural department said industrialisation and enhanced importance to tourism and mining have relegated the farming to third position in the state As a consequence, the number of people involved in agriculture is declining steadily. The rough estimates point out that the cultivable land has been going down, which has been attributed to various reasons. There has been rise in khazan land and breaches of embankments, which lead to inundation of paddy fields with saline water. This situation has affected annual production. Moreover, those farmers who had been raising high-yielding food crops like rice have stopped cultivating the land due to shrinking demand for their produce. Ruing that our youths aspire to take up white-collar jobs and shy away from farming, Tufani said if agriculture is neglected then one day food scarcity will stare us in the face. Farmers, who once cultivated land, have said that they quit farming due to shortage of farmhands. Oftentimes wild animals destroy standing crops causing huge losses to farmers. Sometimes rainfall is also erratic, which adds to the worries of farmers, who have to shell out more to pay farmhands. Why a farmer should cultivate paddy fields when the government provisions the rice for ` 3 per kg on ration, asked some farmers. They said the cost for cultivation of an acre is ` 8500. http://www.navhindtimes.in/goa-news/paddy-cultivation-declined-9-last-seven-years